A sessions court in Jamnagar sentenced former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt to life imprisonment on Thursday in connection with a 1990 custodial death case, when he was posted as the additional superintendent of police in the district.

Sessions judge DN Vyas convicted the former top cop as well as a constable, Pravinsinh Zala, of murder under the Indian Penal Code and pronounced the life sentence. The court also convicted five other police personnel in the case — sub-inspectors Dipak Shah and Sailesh Pandya, and constables Pravinsinh Jadeja, Anopsinh Jethva and Keshu Jadeja. All the five persons have been sentenced to two years in prison.

Bhatt is already behind bars in connection with a 23-year-old drug planting case, after he was arrested in September 2018.

As per the details of the custodial death case, Bhatt along with other police officials had detained around 150 people after a communal riot in Jamjodhpur town on October 30, 1990. One of those detained, Prabhudas Vaishnani, died in hospital after his release following custodial torture. The brother of the deceased filed an FIR against Bhatt and six other police officials, accusing them of killing his brother by torturing him in custody.

The case against Bhatt remained pending for years as the state government did not give its nod for prosecuting him. But later, the government gave permission to prosecute the former IPS officer, who is currently at loggerheads with the ruling dispensation.

Notably, Bhatt had moved the Gujarat High Court in April after the trial court occupied with the custodial death case rejected his plea to summon 40 witnesses in the case including former director generals of police (DGPs) PP Pandey and HP Singh, and DGP (admin) TS Bisht. He claimed that while the prosecution had cited over 300 witnesses in the case, only 32 of them had been examined. He claimed that examination of the 40 witnesses, including the DGPs, was important as they were senior to him, had investigated the case and were aware of the information related to the case.

Now, Bhatt is likely to appeal the conviction and sentence before the high court.

Tainted Cops

• Bhatt and constable Pravinsinh Zala convicted of murder and sentenced to life in jail for the custodial death of Prabhudas Vaishnani
• Five other cops sentenced to two years in jail for custodial torture
• On Sept 5, 2018, Bhatt arrested after being accused of falsely implicating a man for possession of drugs in Palanpur in 1996. Trial is going on